This is the most sense I’ve heard U.S. President Barack Obama make since he was elected. While I empathize with the little people who will be affected if the NFL lockout occurs today, Obama was right when he said, “the fans” are the ones who allow for all that money they’re making. And it’s the fans who are worrying “about making the mortgage and, you know, paying for their kids’ college education.”
Why should the president of the United States intervene when greedy people can’t decide how to divvy up millions of dollars between them?
Here’s the full text of Obama’s statement:
We’ve got owners, most of whom are worth close to $1 billion; you’ve got players who are making millions of dollars. My working assumption at a time when people are having to cut back, compromise, and worry about making the mortgage and, you know, paying for their kids’ college education, is that the two parties should be able to work it out without the president of the United States intervening.
I’m a big football fan, but I also think that for an industry that’s making $9 billion a year in revenue, they can figure out how to divide it up in a sensible way. And be true to their fans, who are the ones who, obviously, allow for all the money that they’re making. So my expectation and hope is that they’ll resolve it without me intervening, because it turns out I’ve got a lot of other stuff to do.
